Seven planets to align in the sky next month: What it means

NEW DELHI: This January and February, skywatchers will be treated to a rare planetary alignment visible in the night sky. Six planets - Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - will be visible on clear nights, with Mercury joining them for a single night in late February, creating a seven-planet alignment, the BBC reported.
While not perfectly aligned, the planets will appear in an arc across the sky due to their orbital plane in the Solar System. The brighter planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn - will be visible to the naked eye, while Uranus and Neptune will require binoculars or a telescope to spot.
Jenifer Millard, a science communicator and astronomer at Fifth Star Labs in the UK, says, "There is something special about looking at the planets with your own eyes."
Although some scientists have suggested that planetary alignments might impact Earth, the scientific foundation for most of these claims is weak or non-existent. However, planetary alignments have undoubtedly affected space exploration, particularly when it comes to exploring the Solar System.
In 1977, Nasa launched the twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft to take advantage of a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which occurs only once every 175 years. This alignment allowed the spacecraft to visit all four planets within a span of just 12 years, instead of the 30 years it would have taken without the alignment.
Planetary alignments are also valuable for studying exoplanets and distant galaxies. The transit method, which involves observing a planet passing in front of its star, has led to the discovery of numerous exoplanets, including Earth-sized planets orbiting the red dwarf Trappist-1.
Additionally, gravitational lensing, caused by the alignment of massive galaxies or clusters between Earth and distant early galaxies, allows astronomers to study the faint, far-away galaxies in the early universe.
While the planetary parade this month depends on perspective, it's possible to imagine an alien civilization observing our Solar System and using similar alignments for their own purposes. As Nick Tusay, a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, says, "Perhaps another alien civilization might see this as an opportunity to conduct their own investigations."